Those cinematic wizards at Subway Cinema have just announced most of the line-up for the NYAFF. I know some of the flicks, but they all sound cool.


Subway Cinema website

What happened to the Angela Mao appearance that was trumpeted in the e-mails? No mention of it.

ALWAYS: SUNSET ON THIRD STREET (Japan, 2005) -was not a fan, ersatz50s family drama
FINE, TOTALLY FINE* (Japan, 2007) -- heard good things about this
HAPPINESS (Korea, 2007) -- quite good -- if not quite up to the level of Christmas in August or One Fine Spring Day
L: CHANGE THE WORLD (Japan, 2008) -- supposedly not as good as the first 2 Death Note films
MAD DETECTIVE (Hong Kong, 2007) -- very good
SAD VACATION* (Japan, 2007) -- disappointing to me
SPARROW (Hong Kong, 2008) -- great advance reports
STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES (Japan, 2006) -- Probably worth seeing. even ifg a bit problematic, Chizuru Ikewaki does a great job here

Hello,

It would have been nice if someone at the Subway Cinema collective had managed to line up Yoshida Daihachi's "Funuke: Show Some Love You Losers" (2007). I've been wanting to see that one for the longest time based on the good word of mouth from all my (admittedly quirky) Japanese friends. This is the sort of festival that would make a perfect showcase for the film and I'm surprised the distributors didn't jump at the chance to do a North American premiere through the NYAFF.

Michael, what did you find disappointing about SAD VACATION? I really liked EUREKA and ELI ELI LEMA SABCHATANI (I'm sure I misspelled that) the two Shinji Aoyama films I've seen, but I have the impression he's really uneven. Even so, it's one of the films at this festival I'm most eagerly anticipating, along with SPARROW and UNITED RED ARMY.

I'm not entirely certain what the problem was. Sad Vacation just didn't seem to "come together". Parts were well-done, but it just seemed pretty erratic overall. I'm not annoyed at having watched it, at least. ;~}

It is a neat line up.


Accuracy of Death is the film I want to watch most among them due to my Kaneshiro Takeshi obsession (head duly hang in shame)

Always I & II Nothing new in the sequel, it will please the people who loved the first film though

Assembly this one was like a Hollywood war/post war melodrama, apart from the feel big hand of Chinese government patting my head after the viewing.

Happiness It is a very good film, I especially find it amazing how HJH managed to suck all the melodrama out of a very very melodramatic story. Didn't like it as much as One Fine Spring Day, Christmas in August though it was better than April Snow.

Mad Detective Easily my fave HK film of recent years. Great script.

Shadows in the Palace It is ok but I didn't like how the lighting was handled and the whole thing reminded me of Dae Jang Geum (which is a much much better viewing if one interested in females and their trials in the palace)

Strawberry Shortcakes I love this film very much. The cast the story and the characters all fit in perfect alignment.

Sukiyaki Western Django This sure is a great crowd pleaser. I enjoyed my viewing and liked the film - which I think is made for western Asian film lovers anyway.

Apart from Accuracy of Death, I also want to watch Sad Vacation, Tokyo Gore Police, United Red Army, The Rebel and Fine Totally Fine

Too bad everyone seems to still be ignoring Jun Ichikawa's "Ashita no watashi no tsukurikata" and Yoshiko Senbon's "Red Whale, White Snake". I was hoping NYAFF would show both of these....

We apologize about the Angela Mao tribute. It was something we really wanted to do and that we thought we had in hand - but it basically fell apart and in retrospect we shouldn't have announced it prematurely. We thought the hardest part would be getting Angela to show up - but at least initially that was easy - heck she lives in Queens! But obtaining prints to her films turned into a deadend. No one has prints of her classic films and we didn't want to invite her and show two of her lesser ones. We had wrongly assumed that we could get prints from Fortune Star since they are putting out the dvds but they told us they only had a few and that they were in ratty condition - and on top of that they wanted a key to our bank account to rent them. Then we contacted every collector we know but came up empty. We were considering just showing the dvd when suddenly the phone number that we had contacted Angela on (her son actually) went dead. At that point we just had to move on.

Funuke - I love that movie as did a few others in the group - but the distributor never got back to our many requests to show the film. In the world of film festivals we are small potatoes.

Michael- feel free to send your suggestions to us any time - though preferably a few months before the fest - for whatver reason neither of these films were on our radar. That goes for anyone - as much as we try to keep on top of Asian films there are always a bunch that slip by us and suggestions of things for us to look at are always welcome.

Btw - tickets should be accessible on our site within a few days.

Brian --

Possibly my two suggestions would be too sedate for NYAFF itself -- but I would have thought some festival or other would have found them suitable (after a couple of years).

Brian,

For next year's festival, make sure you get the Ai Kago/Sammo Hung "God of Kung Fu Kitchen" spectacular that's now shooting in HK (see the "Sammo Hung meets Morning Musume" thread for details), surely the most "must-see" film to come out of Hong Kong this year. :D

(Yvonne, if you're reading, do you think you can interview Ai Kago for BC Magazine while she's in HK?)